Conventionally, an active matrix drive liquid crystal display device comprising a thin film transistor formed over a glass substrate has been manufactured by patterning various thin films by light exposure using photomasks as with a technology for manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuits.
However, as the size of a glass substrate used for manufacturing such a liquid crystal display device becomes larger, it has become difficult to manufacture a display panel with high productivity at low cost by a conventional patterning method. Accordingly, even though a display panel corresponding to a large substrate is formed by consecutive exposure or the like, the processing time is increased by multiple exposure treatments. Further, huge investment is required to develop a light exposure apparatus which can handle such a larger substrate.
Further, as a substrate size becomes larger, higher material costs are spent, and a large amount of wastes such as liquid waste are required to be processed in the case of a manufacturing method in which various thin films are formed entirely over a substrate surface and are thereafter etched away so that only required parts remain.